Not long after, Andrew agreed to the guild's arrangement.
Terelen had to leave.
Unfortunately, Andrew's predictions about the usefulness of the level five credibility access were spot on.
Despite having access, he could not buy anything because he simply could not afford anything.
The tasks were another disappointment, because most of them required access to the Battleverse, while the few that didn't were way too far for any of his ships to reach at this point.
The only good thing that came out of this was that his merchandise was well received at the higher levels, earning him a lot of gold credits, but nowhere near enough to buy what he needed.
While Andrew was discussing this matter with Tanera, his communicator beeped, and Nairin's voice came when he picked up.
-Andrew, come to Hangar 5.
I have something you might like.
She said, excitement dripping from her voice.
-I'll be there soon.
He replied.
Tanera went with him, curious about what made Nairin so excited
When they arrived, Andrew's jaw dropped to the floor.
-How do you like it?
Nairin asked, with a happy smile, while standing next to Aelita and Lanarine.
-Is that…
-Yes, it's a stargate, though it looks and works a bit differently than in that TV show.
Aelita confirmed, before he could even finish his question.
Andrew was at a loss for words, hearing her say it.
-This is one of the two prototypes that are operational for now, but if you approve of it, then we would like to equip every station with one of these.
It took Andrew a few seconds to get his thoughts back together.
One thing was to live in a universe with advanced technology, but it was another matter altogether to see the device from a TV show materialize in the real world.
How did you make it?
The human asked.
-Nairin came to me with this idea after watching the show.
We looked it over once again and figured out that the device in the show was impossible to recreate.
So instead, we used the jump gate technology that we have and made it smaller.
It took a while, but we finally made two prototypes and asked Lan to help us with the distance calculations.
Turners out that the dialing system from the show was useless and inaccurate, so we made our own using the relays as guidelines.
It turns out that the whole dialing mechanism is unnecessary; all you need is to have two gates and a lot of power to open a stable wormhole.
If you want to add more gates to the system, then all you need to do is get more gates and assign them numbers in the database.
The moment you choose a gate you want to connect to, the signal is sent through the relays.
After it is confirmed that the other gate is inactive, the connection is established.
-The best part is that it's a two-way connection.
Nairin chimed in, excited about her project.
-Well, ladies, you have outdone yourselves.
Andrew admitted with awe in his voice.
-Did you test this thing?
He asked after taking a closer look at the device, which had only minimal resemblance to the Stargate from the show.
-We did, and it works, however…
Lan said and stopped midsentence, looking at the two engineers.
-The technology is not perfect yet, so we can't send people yet or anything alive for that matter.
-Go on.
Andrew encouraged them.
-For the moment, we can keep a stable connection for about ten minutes and only send non-organic materials, as well as communications, but for now, that's the limit.
We need more time to perfect this device.
Aelita explained.
-Show me.
Andrew said, visibly curious about the new device they came up with, or rather, brought to reality from fiction.
-Sarill, contact Zira and tell her we are opening a connection.
Aelita said to her comms bracelet.
-She's ready when you are.
Sarill said a moment later.
-Vulcan, divert power to the gate.
Aelita said while using the controls on the console, a few meters away from the gate.
At this point, Andrew was not even surprised that the AI knew about this, since Vulcan was the only one capable of delivering this much energy in a way that no one noticed.
-Energy is transferred.
The gate is charged and ready.
AI reported.
A moment later, the gate activated.
The event horizon was a seethrough wall of light, and there were no spectacular or dramatic effects added.
-Zira, send the package.
Aelita contacted the station master directly, and soon a battle droid emerged from the gate, like it were just walking down the corridor.
After a few steps, it turned around and vanished into the gate like it was never there.
-The droid is back, safe and sound, another successful test.
Zira's voice sounded from the speakers.
-Thank you.
-Any time, ladies, call me when you need me.
Zira said, and soon after, the gate deactivated.
At that moment, the three ladies looked at Andrew, who was deep in thought.
-Ladies.
He finally said with a wide smile on his face.
-This is magnificent.
Andrew said and hugged each one of them.
-Even though the technology is not perfect yet, I believe you can make it work.
And even now it's not useless, with this we can send droids to wherever they are needed, not to mention supplies and parts, much faster than using a ship.
They discussed the device and its possible applications for a few minutes before they remembered that Tanera was with them.
The Elf was so shocked that for a few minutes she stood rooted in place, unable to believe what she was seeing.
-Tanera, are you alright?
Aelita asked, concerned, about her, as she didn't even blink for a while.
Only then did she blink and look at them with wide eyes.
-Did you by any chance hack the high-level task list in my office?
Tanera asked, with a shaky voice.
-No, why would we do that if we can't take on the tasks listed there?
Nairin asked, unsure what the elf was talking about.
Then it hit her like a brick to the face.
-You can't be serious.
-I'm very serious, this is a level ten task, and what's more, it was issued by one of the first thousand.
You ladies just created something that many star nations were trying to make for the last few millennia.
The merchant said, trying very hard to remain calm.
-We are not handing this tech over to the guild.
Andrew chimed in, his voice serious.
-But the reward…
-Won't mean anything if we can't even collect it.
He interrupted her.
-What level was the fleet task that we accidentally finished?
Lanarine asked out of curiosity.
-It was a priority level eight task.
Tanera explained.
-So there is no way for the guild to allow us to keep the reward since this one is a level ten task.
The Dranixian stated, while shrugging.
This was something that the elf had forgotten because of the shock.
Lan was right, since they could not get their full reward from a level eight task, there was no way in hell they would be able to get one from a tier ten task.
-I also have no desire to go through the talks with your brother like the last time, so the answer is no, and it will stay that way for as long as I deem it necessary.
Andrew stated calmly but without leaving any room for discussion.
Not that he wanted to hog all this tech for himself, and the prospect of a rich reward was enticing, but what good would it do if he could not retrieve it, which he was certain would need to wait for the empire to enter the battleverse.